By Deepa Fadnis
“Then in the land of many hills
Was lime and sand and gas
And West Virginia had in plenty
The things to make the glass”
Morgantown was well known for its glass factories. Seneca glass company was founded in 1891 by a small group of glass making artisans from the Seneca county. It was the first glass factory in the city and with its success, Morgantown quickly developed as a thriving glass industry.
Back in those days, it produced 1,000 hand cut crystal glassware patterns on hand-blown glass in over 750 superior colors. For those times, it was close to a world record because no other glass company in the world could match up to their creative standards.
Morgantown Glass Works, a well-known Morgantown glass manufacturer began producing high-quality hand-blown glassware at a location near the Seneca Glass Company in 1899. It was later renamed as Morgantown Glassware Guild Inc and it is known by that name till date.
Jackie Kennedy ordered a line of lead crystal glassware for the White House from the Morgantown Glassware Guild. From then on, this line was called The President’s House.
Unfortunately the industry collapsed due to the economic downturn when the Great Depression hit and was unable to recover. This was exacerbated by the introduction of mechanization to the process for making bottles and glassware that required less skilled workers and lower wages.
The Seneca Glass Factory was placed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1985, two years after the Seneca Glass Company went bankrupt. The buildings are now known as the Seneca Center and are filled with retail stores, but an effort has been made to retain the original buildings and history. There are showcases throughout this shopping center that display the process of making glass, molding it and various glassware made in the factories. Please do visit the antique store on the ground floor to get a feel of what this place was like in the olden days.
The Eclectic 
It’s really neat to be able to see how things used to be around Morgantown. To see the Seneca Center without the PRT running behind it is a trip. West Virginia has a history of glassmaking, but there aren’t too many of these businesses still around. The best known one is probably Fenton Art Glass in Williamstown, WV, but even it has had its share of financial problems. I think it’s really cool that, even though Seneca Glass is no longer there and new businesses use the space, an effort has been made to retain the look and feel of the company. Nice post.
It is really cool and the best part of this whole experience was the enthusiastic lady who was narrating everything to me. She was really old and I am sure must have worked at the factory. You could actually see how much she missed being a part of such a big industry. glad you liked it!
Being a West Virginia native, the various glass works that were and still are in existence brings about a certain sense of pride to me. Especially when considering that at one point the Mountain State was considered the artisan glass making capitol of the world. While those times have been long gone, there are still places like Blenko Glass in Milton, WV that produce beautiful hand-blown and custom pieces and send them out to all corners of the world. I have often wondered about the Seneca Center and ashamedly have never been there except for a meal at the Glasshouse Grille…this story is pretty informative about this exceptional history of the building and I loved the tidbit about the “The President’s House” glassware.
I was just talking about the glass factory in Morgantown today! I’ve never been to the museum. but I did go to the Morgantown History Museum a little bit ago and they had some Seneca Glass on display there. It was pretty interesting so I’m sure the factory would be pretty cool. It’s such a shame we don’t still make glass here! Great job!
We toured the glass factory for a class of mine, an honors class on the history of Morgantown. I was amazed at how much history there is there, and so many beautiful things are on display. Like Corey said, I get a little sense of pride when I think of all the beatiful glass work that has come out of West Virginia.